UN Syria envoy suspends aid task force amid ongoing fighting

The UN envoy for Syria cuts short a meeting of the international body’s humanitarian task force amid continued fighting that has prevented aid deliveries to besieged areas for at least a month.

Staffan de Mistura says he halted the weekly meeting after only eight minutes as there was “no sense” in having one because of the delay in aid deliveries.

Syrian rescue workers carry a young victim on a stretcher following a reported air srike on the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib on 17 August, 2016. (AFP PHOTO/Omar haj kadour)

He reiterates his call for a 48-hour pause in the fighting, notably in the northern city of Aleppo, to help allow for deliveries and asks for a “gesture of humanity from both sides.”

The envoy says he plans to reconvene the task force next week, and believes its co-chairs — Russia and the United States — still want a nonmilitary solution to Syria’s conflict.

— AP

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